Kingdom Fungi

Distinctive features

1. Have rigid cell walls made of chitin — a polysaccharide rich in nitrogen.
2. Have a body called mycelium with thread-like structures called hyphae. The hyphae can be septate or aseptate/coenocytic (no cross walls). The hyphae may be septate and multinucleate or uninucleate.
3. Have heterotrophic mode of nutrition as they lack chloroplast. Some are holozoic e.g. mycorrhiza, some are saprophytic e.g. moulds/mucor species, some are parasitic like Candida species, Epidermophyton (causes athlete's foot), Microsporum (causes ringworm).
4. Store carbohydrate in the form of glycogen.
5. Have centrioles.
6. Reproduce asexually by formation of spores and sexually by forming gametangia.
7. Are non-motile/sessile.
8. Grow on dead decaying organic matter — some grow in terrestrial environments rich in organic matter and some grow in sugar solutions.

Classification of fungi

1. Zygomycota — e.g. Mucor species, Rhizopus.
2. Ascomycota — e.g. Saccharomyces.
3. Basidiomycota — e.g. Agaricus.